Former Japanese Prime Minister shot at campaign rally

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Is this to do with Abe's lack of remorse over japanese war crimes and reparations to WWII victims?

Abe was not an unusual politician. He was seen as on the right, yes, but not very far out. There are several factions within the Liberal Democratic Party and Abe's one was the largest. Seeing as the LDP has had a very tight grip on power since WWII and that the people support them through the elections, Abe as a politician characterises much of Japan in itself.

Although his "Abenomics" never quite took off he was held in high esteem for his visionary take on politics, something the following Suga and Kishida administrations lack (they are more pragmatic, although Suga shared Abe's authoritarian leadership style). He also tried, but ultimately failed, to increase immigration of skilled professionals to Japan. In the latter half of his time as PM he was harshly criticised for a cronyism scandal and some strange responses to the coronavirus crisis. He also had the ambition to rewrite the war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution, something that has proven prescient given the current security situation in East Asia and the consensus among the Japanese that military spending ought to increase.

I think an overwhelming majority of people in Japan were struck with sadness and shock over what happened to Abe yesterday. Although there were people disagreeing with him, sometimes strongly so, he was not hated by the general population in any way and most saw him as a natural part of everyday life, even after he stepped down.

To elaborate:
He WAS a far-right nationalist, a historical revisionist who denied every war crime commited by the country and he was affiliated with a fascist lobby group who are regressive in basicly every way you can think of.

I've seen people give him a free pass for all this because he's pro-taiwan which is stupid.
Maybe "progressive" people in the west are often afraid to hold non-western countries up to the same scrutiny as they do their own, which is more bollocks. Japan has issues, man. If this dude wasn't all that extreme in the general world of japanese politics, that's something to worry about. If japanese society largely views this dude as a good person than things are worse over there than I thought.

About Abe himself.

Abe became Prime Minister for the first time in 2004. Less than a year after taking office, he stepped down because he was "pro China". (visit to China after taking office)
In South Korea and Japan, leaders who are not hostile to China are not so "safe".

Abe mainly served from 12 to 20 years. After he took power, he eased the extreme tension between China and Japan during Yoshihiko Noda's period.

The Liberal Democratic Party(the largest party in Japan with more than 50% seats, right-wing nationalism) of Japan is essentially a one party ruling party. They compete between different factions of the Liberal Democratic Party, not between different parties.
His faction is the most moderate in the Liberal Democratic Party . He needs to make some political moves to tie down the rest of the bag of s**t.
In the position of Japanese Prime Minister, even if you put a dog, it will visit the Yasukuni Shrine and make a gesture of denying history.

Abe is a relatively good one. As a Chinese, I have no suggestion about this aspect of him. This should not be attributed to himself. (it doesn't mean that I have no problem with some of his other foreign policies)
(my view of Abe does not represent the mainstream of Chinese people, but it can represent some. The mainstream is ...Um...There are many problems for him.)
Politicians' gestures are not always equal to intentions.

When I was traveling yesterday, my first reaction to the news was that either the extreme left wing with a terrorist tradition in Japan after WWII was revived, or the extreme right wing dissatisfied with Abe's moderation.

but...
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20220709-OYT1T50153/

This looks more like what would happen in South Korea than what I know about Japan...

Yes...its weird.

You would assume that a politician's murder would have something to do with politics, and that the killer was some kind of ideological extremist.

But the killer apparently had no ideology, and was the victim of some kind of religious cult. The cult took his life savings, so he took out his anger on the touring candidate. Why he thought that Abe had any connection to, or any power over, the cult is not obvious. Abe was not in power at the moment. But he blamed Abe for not getting him ...his money back.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 09 Jul 2022, 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't like backseating, but:

Security failed hard. Shinzo Abe should have been on the ground and covered instantly after the first shot and the designated shooters quickly facing the direction of the blast with firearms drawn, ready to engage. They got lucky with the first shot missing and that gave them the few seconds you usually don't have (it was about 3 seconds, so basically forever with adrenaline and muscle memory); you usually don't get lucky twice. Shinzo Abe lacking soft body armor is somewhat interesting too. Complacency kills, I guess.

Anyway, RIP.

My guess is they weren't prepared. Events like these will forever ramp up security around political candidates or sitting leaders. A lot of the security around the British royal family stem from random incidences where members of the public put the royals at risk when there was no expectation of anything happening. For example when a bikini clad woman ran up to a young Prince Charles on an Australian beach and kissed him or when a crazed fan broke into Windsor castle to talk to the Queen who handled the intrusion remarkably well and de-escalated the crazy dude who was arrested later.

I think the scenario now is we live in a world where people become radicalised/crazed over the internet to attack people holding office misattributing some crazy idea on that person. Where the cult of personality meets/overlaps with mental illness in the public.

Assassination is somewhat the leading cause of death for former prime ministers in India. There have been a remarkable number of politicians killed after leaving office ever since India became independent of the UK.

But: to be honest, not a lot that's been going on in India etc. Is being reported in western media at all.

It still is, but that doesn't mean crime and mental illness don't exist.

And naturally the murrican gun enthusiasts won't stop snickering about how this happened in spite of Japan's strict gun control laws, which can only mean in their puny little minds that the gun control is 0% effective. Never mind that only around 10 people in Japan die each year from gun-related deaths while in the divided states there's over 100 gun-related deaths per *day*. Also the gun was made by hand. If it's that easy to make one you'd think a lot more people would be killed in countries with strict gun control every day.

I think the stigma about mental illness in Japan is even higher than it is in western culture. But it's still nowhere near as violent as some other certain unnamed countries.

They don't like anyone who doesn't conform to social norms. This is not just about mental illness.

Not a lot gets reported in the social calamities besetting Japan either in the western press. Putting aside the cultural differences, Japan is a portal for the future of western countries.

Lower birth rates, greater levels of social isolation and higher levels of mental illness among the young. This is a perfect storm for radicalised youth who see no way out of their predicament.

Obviously they dont have a secret service. So the guy wasnt surrounded by trained action heroes.

The whole country is "maximum security" so the citizenry, and even the head of state, feel safe. Safe as Americans felt at the turn of the 20th century when someone like Teddy Roosevelt could make 'whistle stops' and mix with the local populace- just like Abe was doing. But that era just now ended in Japan as well I am sure. From now on they are going to start surrounding their PMs and ex PMs in the same kinda security bubble that we use for the POTUS. Sad.

Another, far more controversial ex-world leader died the same day:

Ex-Mexican president Luis Echevarria dies at 100